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Reluctant SMEs (Was Re: Education and Productivity)
Subject:Reluctant SMEs (Was Re: Education and Productivity) From:Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 25 Jun 1997 13:18:47 -0500
Barb Philbrick wrote:
> for a really reluctant SME, I make stuff up (within reason) about the
> product and what I know so far. Nothing brings an SME out of his shell
> faster than having his or her product be misunderstood. If the SME is
> really introverted, sometimes this results in an almost note-passing
> writing method, but if I can use it to create a good document, I'll do
> it.
This one works well for me too! There other benefits too: I can go
a long way on high-level information and educated guesswork, so that
when I get the real facts on how a particular feature works, I can usually
just plug them into the right place in my documentation, (as opposed to
re-organizing the document). More importantly, the SMEs I've worked
with react well when they can tell I've done something useful with the
information I do have.
I find that it's also useful to be as well-prepared as possible. Do your
homework and be prepared to ask intelligent, specific questions.
Projects tend to have specs and other documents available; find them
and read them.
Then, rather than asking "How does this work?", you can ask pointed
questions (for example), "Are we including utilities x, y and z with this
release? Will they be available from a dialog box or some other front
end? When can I get a look at them?" Above all, don't ask stupid
questions, i.e., questions about basic things that you should have known
just by paying attention at meetings (oh yeah, and make sure you get
to go to the project meetings -- it's a good place to ask questions).
Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com
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